Laurel · Henry Van Dyke · The Poems of Henry Van Dyke

Milton

Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933) · 1925

iambic pentameter · ABBAABBA · 42 lines · from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke

Lover of beauty, walking on the heightOf pure philosophy and tranquil song;Born to behold the visions that belongTo those who dwell in melody and light;Milton, thou spirit delicate and bright!What drew thee down to join the Roundhead throngOf iron-sided warriors, rude and strong,Fighting for freedom in a world half night?

Lover of Liberty at heart wast thou,Above all beauty bright, all music clear:To thee she bared her bosom and her brow,Breathing her virgin promise in thine ear,And bound thee to her with a double vow,--Exquisite Puritan, grave Cavalier!

The cause, the cause for which thy soul resignedHer singing robes to battle on the plain,Was won, O poet, and was lost again;And lost the labour of thy lonely mindOn weary tasks of prose. What wilt thou findTo comfort thee for all the toil and pain?What solace, now thy sacrifice is vainAnd thou art left forsaken, poor, and blind?

Like organ-music comes the deep reply:"The cause of truth looks lost, but shall be won.For God hath given to mine inward eyeVision of England soaring to the sun.And granted me great peace before I die,In thoughts of lowly duty bravely done."

O bend again above thine organ-board,Thou blind old poet longing for repose!Thy Master claims thy service not with thoseWho only stand and wait for His reward;He pours the heavenly gift of song restoredInto thy breast, and bids thee nobly closeA noble life, with poetry that flowsIn mighty music of the major chord.

Where hast thou learned this deep, majestic strain,Surpassing all thy youthful lyric grace,To sing of Paradise? Ah, not in vainThe griefs that won at Dante's side thy place,And made thee, Milton, by thy years of pain,The loftiest poet of the English race!

Words in this poem

dwell v. i.: To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
roundhead n.: A nickname for a Puritan. See Roundheads, the, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction. Toone.
wast: The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
cavalier n.: A military man serving on horseback; a knight. [F. cavalier, It. cavaliere, LL. caballarius, fr. L. caballus. See Cavalcade, and cf. Cavallier, Caballine.]
resigned a.: Submissive; yielding; not disposed to resist or murmur.
solace n.: Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
shall v. i.: To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
bravely adv.: In a brave manner; courageously; gallantly; valiantly; splendidly; nobly.
nobly adv.: Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
hast: , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Milton is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke, Project Gutenberg ebook #16229; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Henry Van Dyke, Milton, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/milton.html, id L22955.

Form and metre

Milton is 42 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).

See other poems in iambic pentameter.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

1 ABBAABBA height^A · song^B · belong^B · light^A · bright^A · throng^B · strong^B · night^A
2 ABABAB thou^A · clear^B · brow^A · ear^B · vow^A · cavalier^B
3 ABBAABBA resigned^A · plain^B · again^B · mind^A · find^A · pain^B · vain^B · blind^A
4 ABABAB reply^A · won^B · eye^A · sun^B · die^A · done^B
5 ABBAABBA board^A · repose^B · those^B · reward^A · restored^A · close^B · flows^B · chord^A
6 ABABAB strain^A · grace^B · vain^A · place^B · pain^A · race^B

Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Lover of beauty, walking on the height	10	/˘·/˘/˘···
Of pure philosophy and tranquil song;	10	··˘/˘˘·/˘·
Born to behold the visions that belong	10	··˘/·/˘·˘/
To those who dwell in melody and light;	10	·····/˘˘··
Milton, thou spirit delicate and bright!	10	/˘·/˘/˘˘··
What drew thee down to join the Roundhead throng	10	·······/··
Of iron-sided warriors, rude and strong,	10	·//˘/˘˘···
Fighting for freedom in a world half night?	10	/˘·/˘·····
Lover of Liberty at heart wast thou,	10	/˘·/˘˘····
Above all beauty bright, all music clear:	10	···/˘··/˘·
To thee she bared her bosom and her brow,	10	·····/˘···
Breathing her virgin promise in thine ear,	10	/˘·/˘/˘···
And bound thee to her with a double vow,--	10	·······/˘·
Exquisite Puritan, grave Cavalier!	10	/˘˘/˘˘··˘/
The cause, the cause for which thy soul resigned	10	········˘/
Her singing robes to battle on the plain,	10	·/˘··/˘···
Was won, O poet, and was lost again;	10	···/˘···˘/
And lost the labour of thy lonely mind	10	···/···/˘·
On weary tasks of prose. What wilt thou find	10	·/˘·······
To comfort thee for all the toil and pain?	10	·/˘·······
What solace, now thy sacrifice is vain	10	·/˘··/˘···
And thou art left forsaken, poor, and blind?	10	····˘/˘···
Like organ-music comes the deep reply:	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
"The cause of truth looks lost, but shall be won.	10	··········
For God hath given to mine inward eye	10	···/˘··/˘·
Vision of England soaring to the sun.	10	/˘·/˘/˘···
And granted me great peace before I die,	10	·/˘·······
In thoughts of lowly duty bravely done."	10	···/˘/˘/˘·
O bend again above thine organ-board,	10	··˘/···/˘·
Thou blind old poet longing for repose!	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Thy Master claims thy service not with those	10	·/˘··/˘···
Who only stand and wait for His reward;	10	·/˘·····˘/
He pours the heavenly gift of song restored	10	···/˘···˘/
Into thy breast, and bids thee nobly close	10	·······/˘·
A noble life, with poetry that flows	10	·/˘··/˘˘··
In mighty music of the major chord.	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Where hast thou learned this deep, majestic strain,	10	······˘/˘·
Surpassing all thy youthful lyric grace,	10	˘/˘··/˘/˘·
To sing of Paradise? Ah, not in vain	10	···/˘·····
The griefs that won at Dante's side thy place,	10	·····/˘···
And made thee, Milton, by thy years of pain,	10	···/˘·····
The loftiest poet of the English race!	10	···/˘··/˘·

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

More by Henry Van Dyke

The Poems of Henry Van Dyke